Anomia plays off the fact that our minds are positively brimming with all sorts of random information; things to eat, pop songs, websites, etc...

Sure, under normal circumstances, it's easy enough to give an example of a frozen food, or a dog breed; but you will find that your brain works a little differently under pressure!

The directions are simple. Draw a card from the center pile and flip it over. Does the symbol on your card match one on another player's card? If so, you must quickly face-off with the other player by giving an example of the person, place, or thing on their card before they can do the same for yours. If you blurt out a correct answer first, you win their card and drawing continues. Sounds simple, right? Wrong!

Wild cards, which allow unlike symbols to match, increase the number of things you must pay attention to. Cascading face-offs occur when you hand over a lost card. Let's not forget your brain, your brain will betray you! All this adds up to a high-energy, hilarious play experience where everyone is involved at all times.

Easy to learn, fun to play over and over again, Anomia will have any group of friends, family, even perfect strangers, shouting and laughing out loud as they try to beat each other to the punch!

Players: 3-6 players, Ages 10 and up.Goal: To win the most cards by facing-off with other players.Cards: 2 decks. Each deck has 92 unique playing cards and 8 Wild Cards.Duration: One round lasts about 30 minutes. Two rounds are suggested.Vibe: It can be your turn at any time and anyone can be your opponent!

Rules/Directions

Alternate Versions of Anomia

Here are a few other ways to play Anomia. If you have other ideas please contact us, we'd love to hear them!

PLAYING WITH YOUNGER KIDSIf you want to include younger kids in a round of Anomia, try assigning them a single category for the entire game. For instance, a 6 year old could participate by being on the hook for giving an example of an animal, or a food, for the entire round. Older kids and adults will still have to respond to the specific category offered up by their opponents card but younger kids can just focus on symbol matches and their single category. We got this suggestion from an avid fan, and think it's a great idea!

2-PLAYERSIt's definitely possible to play Anomia with only two players, and it's pretty fun too. First, we suggest you make yourself familiar with how a three to six player game works. Once you understand that, you can start a two player game by simply having each player maintain two separate Play Piles.

When it's your turn, draw a card from either Draw Pile, and quickly flip it face up on either of your play piles. If the symbol on your drawn card matches one of your opponent’s symbols, then you must face off with your opponent, just like in a three to six player game. However, if the symbol on the card you draw matches the top card in your own (second) play pile, then EITHER player may attempt to give an answer for the newly drawn card. Whoever gets a correct answer out first wins the Face-Off (and the card).

MULTI-ANSWER VERSIONConsider upping the ante by requiring players to name two or three examples (your choice) for each Face-Off. Instead of just blurting out a single answer, you must be the first to blurt out two (or three) correct answers.

TEAMSGot more than 6 people? You can team up with another player and share a Play Pile. Potentially you could have as many as 12 people playing at once, 2 people to each team. This is also a great way to include younger kids.

CHARADE-ANOMIAI'll admit that we haven't quite worked this one out fully. That said, we have a hunch that incorporating a Charades element into Anomia could make things pretty interesting, and quite funny as well.

The basic idea is that, instead of shouting out your answer, you must act it out to anyone who is not your opponent. The first player to get someone else to shout out a correct answer wins the Face-Off. You will need to get another player to guess an example of something based on your opponent’s card. All the standard rules of Charades apply here, as well as the standard Anomia rules.

"BEST" ANSWERI've gotten a few comments from players saying that they enjoy letting the group decide who wins a Face-Off based on the "best" answer. Instead of just being the first to blurt out a correct answer, you can only win a face-off by giving an answer that the rest of the players agree is the better of the two examples given in a Face-Off. The group must determine what the criterion for “best” answer is; a few possible options might be funniest, dumbest, smartest, most obvious, most obscure, etc...

Also, join our mailing list to get updates on other alternate versions we'll be publishing in the near future...kids, sports, music, movies, TV, slang, etc... These expansion packs can be played as stand alone games or mixed in to the classic version to give it a new flavor.